Can-filling apparatus.



C. ROBERTSON.

GAN FILLING- APPARATUS.

APPLIoATIoN FILED SEPT. 16l 1909.

Patented Dec.20, 1910.

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o. ROBERTSON. GAN FILLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPTJB, 1909.

Patented 1366.20, 1910.

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C. ROBERTSON.

GAN FILLING APPARATUS.

i APPLICATION FILED SEPT'. 16, 1909. 979,096. Patented Deo. 20, 1910.

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C. ROBERTSON.

CAN FILLING APPARATUS.

APPLIUATION FILED 532116, 1909.

Patented Dec. 2o, 19110.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

lllilllilllllllljlllllmlflilli pira CHARLES ROBERTSON, or SOUTHBELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON.

CAN-FILLING APPARATUS.

etaoee.

.To all whom it 'may concern:

tus, and particularly to means for filling` cans, the apparatus beingdesigned for canning fish, though not limited to this use.

The object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of thischaracter, wherein pieces of fish previously cut up, shall bel forced ordirected into a compressor, compressed into the general shape of acylindrical can, and forced into the can, the apparatus also includingmeans whereby the es-` cape of air within the can is limited, andwhereby the cans to be filled are presented in regular order beneath aplunger opening,

whereby they are forced out of the com-1 pressing` chamber and into thecan, the cans being withdrawn from the opening after being filled, andpresented to an operator to be withdrawn from the machine.

For a full understanding of the invention and the merits thereof, and toacquire a knowledge of the details of construction, reference is to behad to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my machine; Fig. 2 is a plan viewthereof; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section thereof; Fig. is a detailperspective, enlarged, of the plunger and a port-ion of the compressingcasing; Figs. 5 and 6 are side elevations of t-he cansupportingmechanism; Fig. 7 is a plan view of the construction shown in Fig. 5;Fig. 8 is a like view, but with the can-carrying arms removed; and, Fig.9 is a fragmentary detail, enlarged, of the means for operating the canclamps.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in 'the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

Any suitable supporting frame or table 2 may be used, mounted upon thesupports and upon which table is mounted the horizontally arrangedhopper 4 having the diverging branches or passages 5 and This hopper andits branches are horizontal, and the branches merge into each other bySpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 16, 1909.

Patented Dec. 20,1910.

Serial No. 518,095.

a semicircular curve, as will be seen in Fig. 3. The ends of thebranches are flanged, as at G, for attachment to an elongated casing S,rectangular in cross section, into which the branches open, as at 7, themiddle of the casing being formed with opposed alining round openingsfor the passage of a plunger to be later described. These openings 9 arelocated midway between the discharge openings or branches 5 and 5a.

Slidably mounted within the casing 8 which forms a compressing chamber,are the three compressing slides or blocks 10, l0a and 11. l,The slideblock 11 is arranged in the middle of the casing, and the compressingblocks 10 10a on each side thereof. The blocks or slides-10 and 10a eachhave a concave or semicircular recessed end 12, and the side face of theend of each slide is rabbeted for the accommodation of a knife plate 13attached thereto by screws. The middle block 11 is transversely concaveon both faces, the concavity being less than a semicircle, as is theconcave end of each of the blocks 10`10a. It will be seen from Fig. 3that the outer portion of the block 11 extends beyond t-h'e innerportion of the block, so that when one of the blocks 10 or 10l is movedinto its nearest position with relation to the block 11, there will be aspace between the inner end of the block 11 and the knife 13. This isfor a purpose to be hereafter described.

It will be seen from Fig. 3 that the slides or blocks 10 10iL arenarrower than the width of the casing S, so that a knife 15 may bereciprocated between the casing and the faces of the blocks 10 10a and11 and across the discharge openings 7 of the branches and 5a, while thespace between said sliding blocks and the outer wall of the casing isjust sufficientto accommodate a slide bar 11a, to the middle of whichthe middle block 11 is attached, and with which it moves. The two endslides 10 and 10a are connected to each other by a rod 10b which extendslongitudinally beneath the table and has the opposed upwardly turnedends to which the reduced extremities of the slide blocks are pivot-allyconnected. Thus, the two slides 10 10a are reciprocated together, andthe inner ends of the blocks are held in a fixed spaced relation to eachother. The block 11 is slidably mounted in the space between the ends ofthe blocks 10 and 102l and, as before remarked, is reciprocated by meansof the slide bar 11a. The range of .movement of the middle block 11 issuch that it alines with the inside edge of eitherI one of the dischargeopenings 7, while its other' face alines with the margin of the plungeropening 9. Ylt will thus be seen that one compressing space between theends of the outer sliding blocks and the adjacent face of the middleblock is nearly a complete cylinder, while the other compressing spaceinto which material is being received is elliptical.

The knife 15 is double-edged and is reciprocated across the openings 7.It will be seen from Fig. 3 that the knife also cuts across thecompressing spaces, and in one position forms one side of saidcompressing space. rllhe knife cuts the cylindrical compressing space sothat the material packed therein is not in the form of a true cylinder,but is flattened on one side, so that when the material is forced into acan, a space is left at one side of the can through which air may pass.lf the material was compressed into the form of a true cylinder havingthe diameter of the can, and the material was then forced into the can,it would probably include with it a certain amount of air, which aircould not escape. By having the knife 15 cut across one side of thecylinder of material, space is left when the material is placed in thecan, whereby air may readily escape. The knife 15 is supported upon areciprocating frame 15a. The means for reciprocating this frame and theconnections to the slide blocks will be later described.

As a means of forcing the material fed into the hopper into thecompressing chamber or space, 1 provide at the junction of the insidefaces of the branches anc 5 the rotatable ring 17. This ring is somounted as to have an oscillatory rotary movement, this rotary movementbeing given to the ring by a reciprocating bar 18 connected as will helater described. r1`he circumferential wall of the ring 17 is slotted atopposed points, and a slightly concave inner wall 19 is formed inconnection with the ring 17, this wall extending from one slot to theother, and forming a curved guide face for a curved feeding fork 20.llhis member' 20 has two opposed forks, one adapted to operate in one ofthe branches, and the other in the other branch. llt has a reciprocatingsliding movement in the ring 17, and to this end is connected to areciprocating bar 21 which is connected to a reciprocating lever Q2pivoted to the frame 15a. This lever has its fulcrum on a bracket Thus,a reciprocation of the frame 15:L will reciprocate the link 22 whichwill shift the bar 9.1. This construction provides that the ring 17shall be rotated through an are of a circle and that just before itreaches the end of its movement in one direction, the reciprocating bar21 shall be operated to withdraw the fork Q0 from one of the passages orbranches and shall project the opposite end of the fork into the opposedbranch, where it en gages with the material in the hopper'. Upon areverse movement of the ring 17, the fork will be moved in the are of acircle inward toward the compressing chamber, forcing the material alongthe passage and into the compressing chamber. ldlhen the ring 17 hasreached the end of its movement in this direction, the fork is withdrawnand inserted into the outer end of the opposed passage, as beforedescribed. llt will thus be seen that the fork is moved inward. alongthe passage to feed the material, is then withdrawn entirely, moved outagain to the entrance. to the passage, is again projected, and is againmoved forward. ll/ifounted in a stirrup Q5 attached to the inner face ofthe casing 8 or in any other suitable support, is the plunger rod 26which carries at its inner end the plunger 27 adapt ed to pass throughthe plunger openings S) and into the space between the inner face ofeither' slide block 10 or'10"L and the adjacent face of the block 11, toforce the material contained in the compressing space outward and into acan. The extremity of the plunger rod 26 is shown as connected to alever QS pivoted on a standard 9.9, the extremity of the lever beingconnected to an operating rod 30 whose connections will he laterdescribed.

As a means of supporting moving cans into place between the lowermostplunger' opening S) and into position wherein tl e material being cannedmay be easily forced. into the can, l provide the vertical cylindricalstandard 3l which is rigidly supported in any suitable base and projectsup to a point slightly above the lower face of the casing 8. rlhe upperend of this standard is conical, as at lt is provided with the outwardlyprojecting triangular lug il?) which. is directed toward thecon'ipressing casing 8. rilhe outer face of the triangular lug 83, itwill be seen, is co-incident with the cylindrical outer face of theshaft 231, the upper end of the lug $33 being in alinement with the apexof the cone 212. Surii'ounding the standard 31 is the sleeve 34s whichis shiftable vertically upon the standard. 'llhe lower end of thissleeve carries a member 5&5 having a plurality of radial arms, wherebythe sleeve 24e shall be rotated by mechanism to be hereafter described.The upper por tion of the sleeve 3ds is formed with a table 3G having aplurality of arms upon whose upper faces the cans to be filled arearranged to be supported. Pivoted upon the upper face of each of thosearms is the pair of opposed cairclainping members which are adapted toalmost surround the can when closed, and to hold the can rigidly in theclamp. The rear onus of these clamping members or jaws 3T are pivoted,as at 38 to the face of the. table 36, and each of the rearwardextensions ofthe jaws 37 is formed with a series of teeth 39 which arearranged in the arc of a circle surrounding the pivot pin 38. Theseteeth are arranged upon the inside face of the rear ends of the jaws 37and are therefore opposed to each other and adapted to mesh with a rack40 having opposed teeth. This rack is carried upon an arm 4l pivoted inears 42 projecting from the upper end of the sleeve 34. There are, ofcourse, as many of these arms 4l as there are pairs of can clamps 37.Springs 43 force the lower ends of the arms 41 outward, and thus tend tohold the clamping jaws 37 in their open position. IVlien, however, theupper ends of the arms 4l are forced outward, it will be obvious thatthe lower ends of the arms will be drawn inward against the force of thesprings 43, and that thereby the clamps 37 will be Closed upon a can.The upper end of` the cylindrical standard 31 acts to hold the upperends of the arms 41 forced outward and the clamping jaws in engagementwith the can. Hence when the sleeve 34 is raised so that the upper endsof the arms 41 pass over the conical end 32, it will be obvious that thesprings 43 will force the lower ends of the arms outward and that thejaws will therefore be opened. 'It will also be obvious that it isnecessary that one of the. pairs of clamps shall not be opened whengrasping between them the can that is being filled and that is to beraised into position immediately beneath the plunger opening 9. The lug33 is for this pur pose. While the upper ends of the other arms 41 ofthe pairs of clamps are moving inward and the clamps opening, that arm4l which is attached to the clamp holding` the can to be filled, is notmoved, for the reason that its upper end contacts with the outer face ofthe lug 33. As a means of raising t-he sleeve 34, I form it with agroove along its length, in which is carried a ring 44, this ring beingpivoted to the bifurcated end of a shifting rod 45 which is pivoted atits middle, as at- 46, and has a downwardly turned link 45n engaged byany suitable mechanism for reciprocating the rod 45. It will be seenthat the reciprocation of the rod 45 will raise the sleeve 44, and thiswill raise all the cans carried upon the table 3G, and particularly willraise that can which is supported beneath the plunger or can-fillingopening.

As before stated, there are a plurality of can-supporting arms. Hence itis necessary to give to the table a step-by-step rotary movement tobring each can in turn beneath the filling opening 9. For this purpose Iprovide the standard 31 with the gear 35. rlhis gear has as many armsupon it as there are cans to be lilled. rllhe extremities of the armsare rounded as at 48, and the arms have curved outside faces which mergeinto each other. The under face of the gear is provided with the threeslots or grooves 49 which are parallel to the adjacent curved face ofthe arm. Mounted upon any suitable rotatable support or shaft 50 is acollar 51 carrying upon it the rotatable disk 52 having projecting fromits upper face a block 53. This block consists of a portion of acylinder from which a section has been cut away, as at 54, the sectionthus cut away leaving a concave recess in the side of the block 53.Upwardly .projecting from the face of the disk 52, midway between thecusps of the block 53, is the pin 55, which pin is so located that upona rotation of the disk 52, the pin will enter the slots 49. The outerfaces of the arms 35 have a curve which tits the curvature of the outerface of the block 53, as shown in Fig. 8, so that as the block rotateswith the disk 52, th-e gear 35 will be held from any turning movement,but when in the course of the rotation of the disk 52, the pin 55 entersone of the slots 49, the gear 35 will be rotated through the third of acircle, the slightly curved inner ends 48 of the arms cont-acting withthe curved recess 54. It will thus be seen that the gear 35 is held fromany accidental movement in any direction, and that `it can only be movedby engagement with the pin 55, and that this pin will rotate the gear 35a certain portion of a circle, depending upon the number ofcan-supporting arms 36. If there are, for instance, three can-supportingarms, it will be obvious that the sleeve 34 must be moved a third of acomplete circle at each rotation of the disk 52, while if there are, forinstance, six can-supporting arms, it will be obvious that the sleeve 34will have to rotate a sixth of a complete circle for one rotation of thedisk 52.

Vhile I do not wish to be limited to the precise manner by which Isecure the stepby-step rotation of the clamp-supporting arms, yet Iregard this form of gear for the purpose, as preferable, for the reasonthat it holds the can-supporting arms absolutely rigidly in positionwith one of the cans in alinement immediately beneath the can-tillingopening 9, and that during the whole period of the rotation of the cans,the cansupporting arms are held rigidly so that there is no lost motionand no back motion, and there is no chance for a can to get out ofalinement with the plunger opening and thereby be damaged and thecontents of the can be injured by the descent .of the plunger with thecan out of alinement therewith. In order to provide for the verticalreciprocation of the sleeve 34, I make the block 53 relatively deep sothat it will have a contact with the arms 35, whether the arms areelevated or lowered. A, sprocket chain 56 engages with a sprocket wheelon the collar 51 to continuously rotate the disk 52 in one direction,but l do not wish to be limited to this means of rotating the disk.

lt will be obvious that may use a large variety of different mechanismsfor securing the different correlativo movements of the various elementsof my apparatus, and l do 4not wish to be limited to any particularmains to 'this end, but as an operatiiiig means for the mechaiiism, lhave illustrated a cam wheel (SO which is rotatably mounted upon atransverse bar 31 supported on the frames or legs 3 of the machine.Pivoted to the reciprocating rod 10" is a lever 62 which is pivoted atits lower end to a longitudinal rod G3 mounted in the standards 3. Thelevcr (Si). is engaged, at its middle, by a pin 64, with the crank disk60. A. rotation of lthe cam disk, it will be seen, will reciprocate thelever 62 whose upper end will reciprocate the rod 10b, thus giving areciprocating motion to the compressingv plungers or slide blocks 10 and10a. il. like reciprocation, but in the opposite direction, is given tothe rod 11"l by meansl of a lever o5 pivoted at its lower end to thecross bar 63 and connected to a cam disk (i7. The rotation of Vthe camdisk will reciprocate the lever G5, reciproeating the rod 11'LL and themiddle con'ipressing block 11. The rod 18 which is connected to theoscillating ring 17 may be either independcntly operated, or may beconnected as shown. that is, operated by a lever 68a operated by the cam(58, the pin 68h moving in advance of the pin (311- so that when thecompressing` blocks 10 and 10d are at one enl of their path of travel,and the compressing chamber' has been opened at the discharge end of oneof the passages 5 or 5a, then the ring 17 will be rotated as beforedescribed. The fork 20 is carried into the opposed chamber at the sametime that the compressing blocks or plungcrs begin their initialmovement to bring a eomjn'essing` space before the other ofthe dischargepassages. "he plunger must of course be lowered as the can-carryingmechanism is raised., and as a simple means of achieving this end, lprovide the cam wheel G9 having'thedian etrically opposed cam pins 70,one of which engages with the downwardly turned end of a lever 71 whichis connected by the link '30 to the lever Q8 of the plunger. The otherof these pin. projects from a link 45a pivotally connected to thc lever45, said lever being pivoted to the ring ist as before described.lreferably a frame 73 is atiched to the under side of the table 2 andextends down beneath and supports the lower end of thcl standard 31 andthe standard 50.

is before stated, the knife 15 cuts off a portion of the cylinder ofmaterial so that the material shall not quite lill the can, but so thata space may be left extending down along the inside face of the can,through which the air may escape from the lower strata of fish or otherpacked material. It will be obvious that unless provision is made, thedescent of the plunger into the can will compress the fish so as toentirely fill the can, and thus the purpose of the knife 15 will benullified. ln other words, this space Within the can must be kept there,and to this end, provide a blade 7-t which projects down from the underside of the casing 8 at the middle of the same, in alinement with thecan-filling opening l.Vlien the can moves upward into position inregistry with the opening 9, this blade will .extend down along theinside of the can, and the material will he compressed into the can, andthen upon the withdrawal of the can, by reason of the l-v'iwcring of thecan table 86, the space eX- tendingl downward along the side of the canwill be left vacant. lt will be obvious that the plunger is cut away onone side, at 29a, to accoimnodate this blade 74.

rlhe operation of my apparatus is as follows: Assuming that the partsare in the position shown in F ig. 3, and both branches of the hopperare filled with slices of fish or other matter to be canned, the firstpart of the machine to be moved is the rod 18. This, in its lateralreciprocation, rotates the ring 17 in the arc of a circle. rlhis forcesthe fork Q0n downward, thus feeding the slices of fish in the branch Ginto the compressing space or chamber c formed between the adjacentfaces of the block 10'l and the block 11. When the fork 20a has reachedits lowest point, the knife 15 is forced across the branch 5a and at thesame time, the coinpressing block or slide 10a is moved inward, (theblock or slide 10 moving outward or toward the block 10iL at the sametime). rlhis compresses the material in the space a into an approximatecylinder, the knife 15, in conjunction with the blade 13 slightlycutting open one side of the cylinder to a depth of about one-eighth ofan inch. All of the blocks 10, 1()2l and 11 are now shifted laterally,bringing the compressed cylinder of material into registry with the jilunger openings 9 (the inner end of the compressing block 10 being nowin alineinent with the outer margin of the branch 5). As this occurs,the rod 30 is actuated to move the lever 2S and force in the plunger 27.Coincident with this, and slightly before the plunger operates, thetable 36 has been rotated to bring a can beneath the plunger opening 9,and when in position, the lever i5 is operated to raise the sleeve 3land the can table to bring the mouth of the can against the under sideof the casing 8. its this occurs, two of the can clamps of the set ofclamps mounted on the rotary table 36, are openechmone to release afilled can and permit it to be removed, and the other to receive anempty can from an operator.

As soon as the can to be iilled is in place, the plunger 27 is operatedto force the compressed material out of the case 8 and into the can.While this is occurring, the fork 20" of the feeder 20 is movingdownward to feed the material into the compressing space, and theoperation above described is repeated upon this last named side of themachine.

It will be seen that my mechanism as described provides an apparatuswherein the cans are continuously fed to the machine and continuouslyfilled, the compression of the material occurring on alternate oppositesides of the can-filling opening, and the material within being moved tothe center of the compressing casing and forced out through the centralcan-filling opening. It will be seen that while one can is being filled,the material is being compressed for the neXt following can. Thus, thereis no delay in the apparatus, and cans vare filled practically upon eachreciprocation of the plunger 27.

I do not wish to be limited in any manner to the means for reciprocatingthe various parts of the apparatus. I have shown crank wheels for thispurpose merely as an indication of a means for operating the parts, butit will be obvious that cams may be used, or that various differentmechanical elements are capable of accomplishing reciprocation of thevarious parts as described. Any mechanic can arrange means foraccomplishing the reciprocation of these parts cordinately and in theirproper time. Neither do I wish to be limited to the precise details ofconstruction as shown in the several figures, inasmuch as the spirit ofmy invention may be embodied in many different constructions, withoutdeparting therefrom.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is l. In can fillingapparatus, a compressing chamber, opposed relatively movable compressingmembers, means for moving said compressing` members toward onel another,means for forcing the compressed material from between said compressingmembers, and means for shifting both of said compressing members withtheir compressed charge to said second named means.

2. In can filling apparatus, a compressing chamber, movably supportedcompressing means including` an independently movable compressingmember, means for operating said compressing means to effect compressionof the material, means for shifting said compressing means with itscompressed charge, and means arranged for ej ecting the compressedmaterial from said compressing means after it has been shifted by saidlast named means.

3. In canning apparatus, the combination with a hopper, of a compressionchamber into which the hopper opens, relatively movable compressingmembers arranged to compress between them the material received fromsaid hopper, said members being supported for movement toward and fromone another and for movement both in the same direction, means foroperating said members to effect a compressing operation and asubsequent shifting thereof with the compressed material., and anejecting means at one side of the discharge from said hopper forejecting the compressed material from between said compressing members,

4. In can-filling apparatus, a compressing chamber having an inletanda-discharge opening, opposed relatively movable compressing membersadapted to compress between them the material to be canned, means formoving the compressing members toward each other, means for shiftingboth of the compressing members in the same direction into registry withthe discharge opening in the compression chamber, and means operatingthrough the discharge opening to force out the cylinder of compressedmaterial.

5. In can-filling apparatus, a compression chamber having an intakeopening and a discharge opening located out of registry with each other,opposed relatively movable compressing members adapted to compressbetween them the material to be canned, means for moving the compressingmembers into alinement with the walls of the intake opening, means forholding the compressing members with the compressed material between andmoving both of said members together in one direction to bring thecompressed material into registry with the discharge opening, and atransversely operating plunger passing through the compressing chamberand adapted to force the cylinder of compressed material out of thedischarge opening.

6. In can-filling apparatus, a. compression chamber having an intakeopening and a discharge opening, opposed relatively movable compressingmembers adapted to compress between them material received through theintake opening, said members having concave opposed ends, a knife whosepath of movement is across the intake opening, means for moving thecompressing members both in one direction to bring the cylinder intoregistry with the discharge opening, and a plunger acting to force. thecompressed material out of the discharge opening.

7. In can-filling apparatus, a compression chamber having an intake anda discharge opening, opposed relatively movable compressing membersadapted to compress between them the material received through theintake opening, said compressing members being concave on their innerfaces, one

limb of the concavity of each of the compressing members being cut awayso that the compressing members when together will not inclose an entirecircle, but that the material to be compressed will project out beyondsaid members, a knife movable across the faces of the compressingmembers to cut ofi' said projecting portion of the material, and aplunger' operating transversely to the compressing members and acting toforce the compressed material out through the discharge opening of thechamber.

S. ln acanning apparatus, a compression chamber having' an intake and adischarge opening, opposed relatively movable compressing membersadapted to compress between them the material received through theintake opening, said compressing members being concave on their innerfaces, one limb of the concavity of each of the compressing membersbeing cut away so that the compressing members when together will notinclose an entire circle, but so that the material. to be compressedwill project out beyond said members, a knife movable across the facesof the compressing men'n bers to cut oli' said projecting portion of thematerial, a blade attached to the face of the compression chamber andprojecting therefrom at the margin of the discharge opening, said bladebeing adapted to fill a segment out from the cylinder of compressedmaterial when the material is forced into movement, means for raising acan into position beneath the discharge opening, and means for forcingthe compressed material out of said discharge opening into the can.

9. ln canning apparatus, the combination with a hopper, of a compressionchamber into which the hopper opens, relatively movable compressingmembers adapted to compress between them the material received from thehopper, said members being mov able toward each other, movable away fromeach other, and movable both in the same direction, said casing havingopposed plunger openings at one side of the discharge from the hopper,and a plunger n'iovable through the plunger openings.

l0. In canning apparatus, the combination with a hopper and acompression cham-' ber into which the hopper opens, said compressingchamber having' opposed openings located at one side of th-e hopperopening, 0f opposed compressing members, said members being movabletoward each other and into alinement with the discharge opening from thehopper, movable both in the same direction to bring them into alinementwith the opposed plunger openings, and being movable in oppositedirections to separate them, and a plunger operating transversely of thecompressing members and adapted to force out the compressed materialthrough the side of the easing.

ll. ln canning' apparatus, the combination with a hopper having' twobranches leading therefrom, and a compressing chamber into which saidbranches open, of opposed con'ipressing members located in thecompressing chamber, a central movable abutment in the compressingchamber between the opposed compressing members, means for moving theabutment from the inside margin of one of the branch discharge openingsto the inside margin of the other, means for alternately reciprocatingthe opposed compressing plungers to and from the .central abutment, anda discharge plunger operating transversely to the compressing plungersand located between the two branches of the hopper.

l2. lfn a filling device, a hopper having i. curved portion merging intoa straight tangential portion, an oscillating rotatable support formingone wall of the curved portion of the hopper, a feeding member extendingradially through said support and carried thereby, said feeding memberhaving a transverse shifting ,movement relative thereto, means forosifillating the support, and means for projecting the feeding memberinto the hopper atthe beginning of the curved portion thereof andwithdrawing the feeding member at the junction oi the curved portion ofthe hopper' with the tangential portion.

13. ln'a filling device, a curved hopper, an oscillating rotatablesupport forming a portion of one wall of the hopper, a curved feedingmember carried by said support and projecting radially therefrom, saidmember having a transverse shifting movement relative to its support,means for oscil lating the support, and means for projecting the feedingmember into the hopper at the beginning of its movement toward thedischarge end thereof and withdrawing the feeding meniber at thetermination of its path of movement toward the discharge opening.

jlJf. ln a `filling' device, a curved hopper, an oscillating rotatablesupport forming a por tion of one wall of the hopper, said oscillatingsupport being slotted, a feeding member' sliding transversely throughsaid slot and adapted to be proj eoted into the hopper. said memberbeing` outwardly bent toward the mouth of the hopper, means foroscillatingl the support, and means for projecting the feeding memberinto the hopper at the beginning of the movement of the support to wardthe discharge opening of the hopper and withdrzuving the feeding memberfrom the hopper on the termination of said movement.

ln a filling device, a curved hopper', an oscillating' rotatable supportforming one wall of the hopper, said support being slotted, a curvedfeeding member carried in lld smoes said slot and adapted tobe'projected out ing member in an arcuate path in said support, areciprocating connecting rod pivotally connected at one end to therotatable support for oscillating the same, a reciprocating rodconnected to the feeding member for projecting and withdrawing the sameinto and out of the hopper, and means for moving the last named rod ineither direction after the first named rod has completed its 1n vementin either direction.

1G. In a filling device, a hopper having a curved portion merging into astraight portion extending tangentially to the curved portion, anoscillating rotatable support forming a portion of the inside curvedwall of the hopper at the point of junction of the curved portion withthe straight portion, said support. being slotted, a feeding memberslidingly carried in said support, said feeding member being curved awayfrom the delivery mouth of t-he hopper, mechanism pivotally connected tothe support to rotatably oscillate the same, mechanism connected to thefeeding member for oscillating the same, and guideways carried by saidsupport in which said feeding member slides.

17. .ln a filling device, a hopper having opposed diverging dischargebranches, a rotatable oscillating support mounted between the branchesand forming the inside Walls thereof, a double feeding member carried bysaid support, sliding transversely therein, and thereby adapted toproject into one or the other of the branches, and means for oscillatingthe support and for alternately shifting the feeding member laterallyinto one of the branches and withdrawing it from the other.

18. ln a filling device, a hopper having two diverging branches, saidbranches being curved, an oscillating cylindrical rotatable supportforming the connecting wall of said branches, a transversely slidingfeeding member carried in said support and adapted to be projected intoone or the other of the branches or withdrawn therefrom, means forrotatably oscillating the support, and means for projecting the feedingmember into one of the passages at the commencement of the movement ofthe rotatable support toward the discharge end of said passage andwithdrawing the feeding member from said passage and projecting it intothe other of said passages at the beginning of the return oscillation ofthe support.

19. In a filling device, a hopper having diverging curved branchesextending therefrom, a rotatable cylindrical support mounted between thebranches at the junction thereof with the hopper and forming theconnecting wall of said branches, said support being slotted at opposedpoints, a curved web formed within the support and extending from oneslot to the other, a curved sliding member fitting against the curvedweb and having opposed forks projecting from it, adapted to pass throughsaid slots and into one or the other of the passages, and means forrotatably oscillating the support and projecting one of said forks intoone of said passages upon the beginning of the movement of the rotatablesupport toward the discharge end of the passage and for slidingI saidfeeding member transversely across the support to project the other forkinto the opposed passage when the first named fork has reached the endof its path of movement toward the discharge end of the first namedpassage.

20. In a canning apparatus, the combination with a chamber having adischarge opening, of a rotary table, a plurality of can clamps mountedon the table, means for giving the table a step-by-step rotation tobring the can clamps in turn beneath the discharge opening of saidchamber, and mechanism for 1aising one of the cans into Contact with theside of the chamber, while holding the clamps thereof closed, andsimultaneously opening the other clamps to permit the removal andinsertion of cans into said clamps.

2l. in canning apparatus, the combination with a chamber having adischarge opening-` of a rotatable table, a rotatable shaft connected tothe table, means for clamping cans upon the table, a driven elementmounted on the shaft, having a plurality of rearwardly projecting arms,and a driving element including a rotatabledislt having a pin thereonadapted to engage in succession with each arm of the driven element toturn the driven element through a portion of a revolution and thendischarged therefrom, land means for holding the driven element frommovement, after its disengagement from said pin.

22. In canning apparatus, the combination with a chamber having adischarge opening, of a rotatable table, a rotatable shaft connected tothe table, means for clamping a plurality of cans upon the table, adriven element mounted on the shaft and having on its under side aplurality of radial grooves. and a driving element including a rotarydisk having a pin projecting therefrom and adapted in the rotation ofthe disk to engage in succession in the slots in said driven element toturn the driven element through a portion of a revolution and withd 'awfrom said slot, and means for holding the driven lement from movementafter its disengagement from the pin.

23. In canning apparatus, the combination with a chamber having adischarge opening, of a rotatable table, a rotatable shaft connectedthereto, means for clamping a plurality of cans upon the upper face ofthe table, a driven element mounted on the shaft l i l l l l outer facehas a curve on the same radius as E the concavity of the arms of thedriven element, said hub being thereby adapted to contact v 'th thesides of said arms and hold the arms from movement, said hub, at a pointopposite the pin, being cut away to permit the arms to rotate whileengaged with the pin.

9.5L. in canning mechanisn'i, the combination with a chamber having adischarge? opening, of a rotary table, a. pluialitg7 ot 1 pairs ofclamping jaws mounted on the table, upwardly extending pivoted armsengaging with the jaws to open the same when the arms are moved in onedirection and to close them .vhen the arms move in the other direction,springs for forcing the arms outward at their lower ends to open thejaws, a central standard extending up through said table, said standardhaving a conical upper end, the upper ends of the clamp-actuated armsengaging with the outer face of the i standard and beine' in the normal.position of the table, and

forced outward therebj.7 i,

means for raising the table so that the upperI i ends of the arms shallvengage with the conical end of the standard and permit the springs toforce the lower ends of the clamping arms outward.

Q5. ln canning apparatus, a filling support for cans, comprising acylindrical standard, conical at its upper end, but said conical endbeing provided with a lug proj ecting out therefrom, having an outerface alining with the cylindrical portion of the standard, sleevesurrounding the standard and shiftable thereon, means for raising andlowering the sleeve, a table carried on said sleeve, a plurality ofpairs of can-clamping jaws pivotally mounted on the table, a pluralityof upwardly extending arms pivoted at the middle to 'the sleeve, thelower end of each arm being formed with a rack engaging j, with gearteeth formed on the inner eXtremity of the clamping jaws, the nj perends of l arenas the arms being inwardly turned to Contact with thecylindrical surface of the standard, springs for forcing the lower endsof said arms outward when the upper ends of the arms are moved beyondthe cylindrical portion of the standard, and means for giving astep-by-step rotation to the sleeve and table carried thereby.

2G. ,ln a filling device, a hopper, a circular, hollow, oscillating,rotatable support forming one wall of the hopper, a feeding membercarried by said supportand passing through the same, but having atransverse shifting movement relative thereto, means for oscillating thesupport, means for projecting the feeding member into the hopper at thebeginning of its movement toward the discharge end of the hopper andwithdrawing the feeding member out of the hopper and into the rotatablesupport at the termination of its path of movement toward the dischargeopening.

Q7. lnv can lilling apparatus, a hopper having spaced dischargebranches, a rotatable support mounted between the branches of saidhopper, opposed feeding devices movably mounted on said support foralternate projection into and retraction from respective branches ofsaid hopper, means for operating said support for alternately movingsaid feeding devices through their respective branches of said hopper,and means whereby each feeding device is alternately projected andretracted by and during movement of said support.

28. ln can filling apparatus, a hopper having spaced discharge branches,a rotatable support mounted between the branches of said hopper, opposedfeeding devices movably mounted on said support for alternate projectioninto and retraction from respective branches of said hopper, means foroscillating said support, means connecting said feeding devices forsimultaneous movement on said support, and means for adjusting said lastmeans for effecting alternate projection and retraction of said devices,one being moved to its projected position while the other is being movedto its retracted position.

ln testimony whereof l aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

lin. s l

